Field was fought, in which the Scottish king fell, and the English prevailed. But for some time warfare was carried forward on both sides of the border.

From 1515 to 1523 no Parliament was assembled, the government of the nation being conducted entirely by the king and his councillor, Wolsey. Wolsey had helped the former king in some of his schemes, for which services he had been made a dean. By the year 1516 he had risen to be a cardinal; and for fourteen years afterwards he was Henry VIII.'s most distinguished adviser and helper, keeping the king in humour by flattery and by winking at his follies and abominations.

The king's domestic life, and his connection with the great Protestant Reformation in this country, are the most striking circumstances of his reign. That he had in succession six wives, and that of these he divorced two and caused two to be executed, reveal a changefulness, and earthliness, and a cruelty in his character dreadful to contemplate. Capable of such heartlessness towards his nearest relatives, his despotism was shown elsewhere also. Persons in office, both in church and state, were mostly his abject slaves. Those unwilling to act as he prescribed were in many cases brought to compliance by severe threats, or beguiled by the blinding influence of tempting bribes. It was a monstrous evil that even juries in cases of life and death were often turned from giving a true verdict by receiving a paltry gift. The parliament, especially as the reign advanced, were most meanly subservient to the despot's beck-a degradation shown not only by the use of obsequious speech and deportment, but by very humiliating acts.

The population of England in this reign was about four millions, upwards of a million being enrolled as fit for military service. Now began that expansion of commerce with foreign countries which came to such vast proportions in the reign of Elizabeth. Willoughby, Cabot, and other explorers, rendered important service by discovering several lands before unknown to England. At home a great deal

of the trade was conducted at fairs and markets.

The chief fairs were Bartholomew, in London, Bristol, Lynton, and Stourbridge. The high-road inns drove a good business on account of the constant resort to the central places of trade. Many of the attendants at these inns were in league with companies of robbers. Thus travelling, solitary and unguarded, was perilous, as indeed it was for long after. Commercial and other frauds abounded. Amongst other deceits in manufactures, the debasing of the coin was notorious, being by the king's permission, and, in fact, for his own lavish squanderings.

The inclosure of waste lands had the effect of transforming many cottagers into vagabonds, and then most terrible laws were made for the punishment of these unfortunate people. For 147 years vagabonds had been put in the stocks; in 1531 they were to be whipped in addition. A few years later the laws permitted that they should be mutilated and even put to death. For two years a law existed making certain labourers slaves. The risings of rebellion in Cornwall and Dorsetshire helped to bring about milder regulations.

The knowledge of medicine greatly advanced in this reign. The College of Physicians was founded in 1518. The surgeons of London were also incorporated in 1540 as the Company of Barbers and Surgeons, though their vocations were to be separate instead of united as before. There was not much progress in painting and sculpture in this country, though the painter Holbein was a favourite of the king. The arts of building and clothing were carried forward after improving modes.

But we must hasten to say a few words about the progress of the glorious Reformation in this reign. The good work in this country began by John Wickliffe, who, nearly two centuries before, had prepared the way. His protests against the vices and extortions fostered by the Romish church, and his preaching of faith in Christ as the means of obtaining pardon and holiness, according to the New Tes

tament, had borne the desired fruit. Many faithful persons were raised up through these truths, who confessed Christ and suffered for His sake, even to death. During the fifteenth century the civil wars chiefly absorbed attention, so that the pure doctrines mainly worked on silently in thoughtful minds, without much outward observation. But in Henry VIII.'s reign various events brought them into a front position. Only in a very partial and inferior sense can Henry be called a nursing-father to the principle of the Reformation. For some of them he may have had a personal liking. In some matters he was probably influenced by the advancing opinions of his times. But in one of the most notable steps he took in opposition to Rome, he was merely governed and directed by his own sins and follies. His personal vanity and sufficiency would make him disdain to call the pope or anyone else his master. And he became quite decided to disown the pope's authority, when he found that that august personage would not favour the domestic revolution Henry wished to make by divorcing his first wife, queen Catherine. The pope being no longer the head of the English church, Henry was acknowledged its supreme ruler in 1534.

A very useful work was done in 1535 and several following years, when all the English monasteries were examined and suppressed, though we cannot speak highly of how the king used a great deal of the money thus gained. And in spreading the truth, as well as opposing popish errors, the grand invention of printing was turned to excellent use in this reign. Coverdale translated the whole Bible into English; Tyndal, the New Testament; and Archbishop Cranmer and others brought out Translations of Portions of the Scripture. Several new bishops favoured the Reformation.

But the king's influence was not entirely on the side of the truth. For twelve years Thomas Cromwell had been his chief adviser, when suddenly and somewhat mysteriously Cromwell lost the king's favour and was executed. But this councillor had in certain ways greatly aided the Refor

mation. Henry also became allied with one of the chief Popish families in the country by his marriage with his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, niece of the Duke of Norfolk. And though the king ordered Coverdale's Bible to be placed in the choirs of all the churches, that all who chose might read it, he afterwards recalled that permission, and the privilege of reading the Bible was given to the nobility and gentry, who were advised to read it quietly and alone in their houses or gardens. Acts of Parliament were also passed upholding Romish errors, such as the dogma of seven sacraments, and that of the corporeal presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. In the operation of these acts some noble martyrs, as Anne Askew, sealed their Protestant testimony at the stake in Smithfield.

It would be an unworthy feeling to be unwilling to see any proof that Henry's character has been misrepresented. One of the latest and most important attempts to defend him has been made by Mr. Froude, the recently appointed (March, 1869) rector of St. Andrew's University. But the old portrait of the king's moral character seems to have been too faithfully drawn to admit of any material alteration. The generally-received verdict is not easy to be removed; the old stains are too deep for extraction or effectual concealment. The Rev. James White, author of several well known historical works, styles Henry VIII. "the nearest approach to a perfect scoundrel which modern times have produced." He died in 1547. H. J. PRING.

THE BOHEMIAN MARTYR-JEROME OF

PRAGUE.

(Continued from page 134.)

THE tidings that the safe-conduct of his friend and leader Huss had been shamefully and unhesitatingly violated, and

that he had been seized and thrown into prison, fired the brave spirit of Jerome. Hoping to render some assistance to his friend he repaired at once to the city in which the Council was sitting. He could not rest at Prague whilst Huss pined in prison at Constance. This journey, however, was only destined to result in his own apprehension and death. Neither his high connections as a citizen, nor his skill as a disputant, nor his eloquence as a pleader, nor his accomplishments as a scholar, could secure for him an opportunity to defend his beloved friend before the Council. The church did not seek to reason but to crush; her weapons were not spiritual but carnal; she was conscious of strength, not because she had God and truth upon her side, but because she had made kings her vassals and had obtained absolute mastery over the fears and hopes of benighted nations. She did not seek to convict but to destroy the men who had denounced her vices; her logic might be lame, but her fires were fierce.

Jerome was seized: he was dragged in chains before the Council, and, after a tumultuous mockery of an examination, was thrown into a dungeon. His hands and feet and neck were so chained that it was with the greatest difficulty he could move his head. For two days he had nothing given him to eat except a little bread and water. Months of darkness and cruelty now followed for Jerome. In vain he asked for liberty to defend himself; in vain he appealed to the justice or pity of his gaolers; in vain his friends in Bohemia interceded in his behalf: the power that held the noble spirit in its grasp was not wont to let its victims escape. Endless tortures were employed to induce Jerome to renounce the faith he held, and to submit his judgment, and reason, and conscience, and whole being to the Papal Church. For months he held out bravely against every effort of his foes. Then came a violent sickness, threatening his very life; and then came the news that his beloved friend Huss had been burned at the stake; then followed the weakness of flesh and spirit which continued cruelty